Listing references Referencing material and avoiding plagiarism

8.9 Further reading 219 n It will help to improve your writing skills through practice at writing at an academic level. n It will provide motivation – giving you a short term target at which to aim. n When your paper is published it shows that your research is making a contribution to knowledge – showing that your PhD is at an appropriate level. n It gives you an opportunity to start writing up your thesis early. By writing papers as you go along you may well find that your final thesis write-up is little more than a few changes to your already published works. You may be able to convert each of your papers into chapters depending on the content – reducing the final write-up significantly. •

8.8 Summary

n When you begin to write your report, consider the reader and the purpose of your report. Use a top-down approach to structure your report and allow sections within your report to evolve over time. There is a particular order in which you should write your report and a specific way in which it should be structured. Look for ways of practising and improving your writing style. n Your abstract should be one of the last things that you write. It should be clear and concise, and summarise the context, scope and contribution of your report. Avoid presenting your abstract as a contents listing. n Charts and graphs can do much to enhance the appearance and content of a report. They should be used appropriately in terms of necessity and type and each one should be uniquely labelled and titled. You must also ensure that you scale them correctly in order to clarify the point you are trying to portray. n A Harvard-style system is the most appropriate system to use for referencing material within your report. Each article should be uniquely identifiable and each reference should be complete so that the reader can trace the article which is referred to. n Documenting software covers a multitude of topics – from commenting program code to writing user guides. In this chapter the development of user guides has been discussed including training manuals with worked examples, or reference manuals for more experienced users. •

8.9 Further reading

Day, R.A. 2006 How to write and publish a scientific paper 6 th Edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Gustavii, B. 2008 How to write and illustrate a scientific paper 2 nd Edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Levin, P. 2005 Excellent dissertations, Open University Press, Buckingham, UK. Malmfors, B. Garnsworthy, P. and Grossman, M. 2003 Writing and presenting scientific papers 2 nd Edition, Nottingham University Press, Nottingham, UK. Montgomery, S.L. 2002 The Chicago guide to communicating science, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA. 220 Chapter 8 n Presenting your project in written form •

8.10 Exercises

1. Write a short abstract of around 200 words for an article you have read recently.

Compare your abstract with the article’s abstract. Do you think your abstract is bet- ter or worse and why?

2. Collect some data from your library on your own institution – for example, num-

ber of students entering the university each year, their age, qualifications and so on. How are these data presented? Enter these data into a spreadsheet and pre- sent the data in a different way. Do you think that your presentation is better or worse? Why? •

8.11 Action point

n Produce a report breakdown structure for your own project. CHAPTER 9 Presentation skills Aims: To introduce the skills needed to present and defend your project effectively in oral form. Learning objectives: When you have completed this chapter, you should be able to: n Understand how to structure, plan and present effective oral presentations. n Demonstrate your software professionally. n Produce an attractive poster for such presentations. n Understand the purpose of, and be able to plan for, viva voce examinations. n Section 9.2 is appropriate for those projects requiring oral presentations. n Section 9.3 is aimed at students who have to produce posters of their work – for either assessment at undergraduate level or conferences at research degree level. n Section 9.4 is appropriate for students undertaking software development projects who need to demonstrate their programs. n Section 9.5 is particularly relevant to research degrees and also to undergraduate projects that have viva voce examinations. 221